Early leaders in the movement included Harold Ockenga, David Otis Fuller, Will Houghton, Harry A. Ironside, Bob Jones, Sr., Paul S. Rees,[9][10] Leslie Roy Marston, John R. Rice, Charles Woodbridge, and J. Elwin Wright.

A committee was formed with Wright as chairman, and a national conference for United Action Among Evangelicals was called to meet in April 1942.

Carl McIntire and Harvey Springer led in organizing the American Council of Christian Churches (now with 7 member bodies) in September 1941.

During the convention Billy Graham spoke for the last time at an NAE gathering, calling on evangelicals to a renewed commitment to spread the gospel.

In 2004, the NAE adopted "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" document[12] as its framework for engagement in political action.

During Anderson's presidency, the NAE stabilized and grew with expanded membership, significant grant funding and many new staff and programs, including an annual retreat of denomination leaders, NAE Talk consultations, Evangelical Leaders Survey, Evangelicals magazine, Today's Conversation podcast, and documents and publications including "Code of Ethics for Pastors," "When God and Science Meet," "Theology of Sex," and "For the Health of the Nation" (revised), among others.

As NAE president, Anderson regularly taught in seminaries, addressed evangelical concerns with elected officials, counseled denominational executives, and provided theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets.

Other leadership elections were made at that board meeting including John Jenkins, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Glenarden, to the office of chair of the NAE board; and Jo Anne Lyon, general superintendent emerita and ambassador of The Wesleyan Church, to the office of vice chair.

As the humanitarian arm of the NAE, World Relief offers assistance to victims of poverty, disease, hunger, war, disasters and persecution.

The National Council had five years earlier released the Revised Standard Version, but the new translation did not prove popular among many evangelicals.

The project team worked to articulate a framework for evangelical civic and political engagement for the 21st century under the direction of Richard Cizik, then-vice president of governmental affairs.

The project generated a major volume edited by Diane Knippers and Ronald Sider and published by Baker Books titled "Toward an Evangelical Public Policy."

New attention has been called to long-time social ills, including the broken immigration system, sexual harassment and abuse, human trafficking, racial injustice and white supremacy.

Concern about these issues was implicit in the original document and is further elaborated in the updated edition, notably through the addition of a section on racial justice and reconciliation.